Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-11-27
A MOMENT TOO LATE.
THE HISTORY OF A CONFEDERATE NIL.
IfARY EXECUTION.
What Bssl Two Bsl2.ed Travellers On the
Slow Railroad Trains Of the
South During the
War.
PhRdddphir Tia~

Philadelphia Tilaes.
The scene of my tale opens in a little
csbin in the Allegheny mountains, in West
Virginia, twenty-five years ago. A wo-
man was anxiously bending over a sick
child tossing and muttering in the unrest
of fever. Every now and then the word
father escaped the child's lips.
THAT child grieves powerfully after her
father" said 4 of the neighbors, who
had come to help the mother nurse the i'll
child.
THAT she does" replied the poor
mother, with a weary sigh. He always
set a world of stole by her. 1t almost
broke her little heart when he went to the
war, and since she has been sick she
begged for him the pitt fullest you ever
heard"
Cant he come to see her?" asked the
neighbor.
NO" replied the woman; 'his colonel
said he couldn't be spared now. He had
q furlough last summer. If he just had
known about this and waited. Seems to
me she might get we'll if she just could see
her father, and it wouldn't fall so hard on
me, either if he was here"
Several days went by and little Sallie,
the sick child, grew worse. At length the
mother wrote au urgent letter to her bus
band, ont of the agony of her heart, i'm
ploriug him to come home at all costs if
he wished to see his little daughter alive
again. Olce more he asked for q fur
Tough and again he was refused. An en-
gagement wa pending. The enemy's
force was greatly superior to ours and not
q man could be spared.
John Ball was a brave man: he had
proved that in many an engagement.
Nothing could have tempted him to swerve
from his duty as n soldier, except his fran.
tic desire to see his child once more. Under
the pressure Of this feeling, he left the camp
against orders, and fled to his rude cabin
among the A~lleghenies Just in time TO see
little Sallie's face light up once more with
a CLEAN of joyful recognition, and to re-
ceiye her parting kiss. To do this he had
incurred the brand Of deserter, ard had
taken his life in his hands.
RETURNING To THE RANKS.
Scarcely were the child's remains in
tered than he, without waiting to comfort
his sorrow-stricken wife, started back 10
| camp, intending to throw himself on the
mercy OF his commander for %exculpation of
an oflense committed under so o~verwhelm-
ing a pressure, or if the worst came to the
worst to meet his fate like & man. But a new
complication had arisen. During the few
days he had been absent the men on either
| side had changed their position like the
| figures on 4 c~hess-bOard, and the enemy's
troops had come between him and his
command. He had travelled through a
cold, dreuching rain, sleeping at night in
a forest TO lessen the risk OF falling into
the enemy's hands. He began to feel a
strange stupOr creeping over him and was
lust able TO drag himself to the house of 4
friend countryDan, who took him in and
kept him for the next few weeks, during
which time he lay i'll OF pneumonia. Just
as be was beginning to cOnvalesce,
and before he had had time to vol
unfairly give himself up, he was arrested
as q deserter. His wife followed him to
camp and pleaded for him, telling the
cause OF his desertion with all the rude
~elOqucnce that strong emotion could die
tate and taking all the blame on herself
/ In vain; he was tried and condemned by
every rule of war as a deserter. The COM
handing officer, however, made this con.
cession 10 the sgOnizsd wife-he would
defer the execution for three days, so as 70
| give her time to 60 TO Richmond and i'm
| plOre the Clemency of President Davis,
which was now the sole hope for the pris.
oner's life.
GOISG TO PLEAD FOB HER HUSBAND.
Like Jennie Deans going to plead before
the Queen for her sisters life. the simple
mountain woman went TO the Confederate
capitol aud pleaded her husbands cause
before Jefferson Davis. She had it in her
power to prove that be had shown himself
a brave soldier; that he had not left the
camp from cowardice or from detection to
the cause, but from his overwhelming love
for his dying child and his intense desire to
see her once more before she passed away.
| DdNN uudllN klhuAGl INC Ludu , DdIlOu dDu
drew up a paper TO that effect, which he
gave to a messenger, directing him TO take
the next train and carry the dispatch to
the prisoners commanding officer. He
moreover gave the woman o duplicate pa
per to make her husbands release the more
certain.
Joyfully she started OF with the preci-
Gus document that was to carry life and
Liberty 10 her beloved husband. The cars
seemed all too slow for her burning i'm
patience. The train was always heavily
loaded in those days; there was so much
travelling to and fro, so much shifting OF
the TROOPS from one point 10 another.
From hard and constant use during the war
the railroads got into very bad order, so
that accidents and detentions were quite
frequent occurrences, especially towards
the close OF the war. On this fateful trip
one of these frequent accidents occurred
during the night. II was not a very dis
astrous accident, but still il Occasioned the
detention Of the train until day before the
necessary repairs could be made.
SEARING CAMP.
Il seemed IS If the stars in their courses
fought against the condemned prisoner.
His wife wrung her hands with fraltic i'm
patience during the detention, but there was
no help for it. She had 10 endure it, though
each moment seemed an hour. At length
she WAS speeding on her wav again and in
q few bonrs more she reached her destinS-
ton. She ard Davis messenger started
together n a wagon for the camp, urging
the driver on 10 almost frantic haste. As
they neared the camp the sound Of 8 volley
OF guns made the poor wife shiver and turn
pale. They reached the camp. She could
not ask 2 question, bat the messenger re-
guested that they should be conducted 10
TIE commanders tent Silently she handed
him the Presidents paper. He took il
read il with white face and lips and silent
iy turned away from her. 1t was too late;
the terrible truth was borne 70 her with.
out a word being spoken. With a heart
rending shrek SIZE fell inssnsibly on the
ground. Tenderly The brave but stern
men around her lifted her up and minis
tered unto her and tears stood in many q
veterans eT- over tbs SorroW-Efrieken